This invention relates to a magnetic tape drive and more particularly to a lever for opening the door in a cartridge as it is inserted into the drive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,664-Perona shows a tape drive for use with so-called "Mini-Data" cartridges. There are standards for these drives so that drives manufactured by different companies can read and write data interchangeably. These standards are referred to as the "QIC" (Quarter-Inch Cartridges) standards. One set of standards is referred to as the "QIC-80 Standards for 250-800 megabyte products."
Recently, a new wide tape cartridge referred to as "TRAVAN" has been announced for use with such drives. The TRAVAN cartridge has a metal base plate which is a reference for all cartridge/drive interface specifications.
The TRAVAN cartridge has a door through which the read/write head in the drive accesses the tape. This door is opened as the cartridge is inserted into the drive. The cartridge door is pivoted on a hinge about an axis which is perpendicular to the direction of insertion of the cartridge into the drive. An actuating portion of the door is on the side of the hinge adjacent to the side of the cartridge. As the cartridge is inserted into the drive, pushing on this actuating portion opens the access portion of the door which is on the other side of the hinge.
Prior art drives for reading the TRAVAN cartridge have used a door opening slide pin which moves toward the back of the drive as the cartridge is inserted. Movement of the slide pin is necessary to accommodate the cartridge in the drive. However, movement of the slide pin in the direction of insertion of the cartridge is undesirable because the door opening motion is not positive. It does not have stiffness in the direction which will operate the actuating portion of the cartridge door.
The slide pin must be biased against movement in the direction of insertion of the cartridge so that the door is opened properly. On the other hand, the cartridge must be held in the drive with a bias which is at least sufficient to provide the proper force of engagement between the drive roller and the driven roller in the cartridge. The QIC standards specify a force of engagement between the drive roller and the driven roller. In other drives for reading the TRAVAN cartridges, the bias on the slide pin is opposite to the bias used to hold the cartridge in the drive to provide the proper force of engagement between the driven roller and the drive roller. Adjusting and maintaining this differential bias is difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a door opening actuator which is more reliable than the prior art.